Personality cult in
Tripoli,
Italian-occupied Libya (
Bundesarchiv Bild, March 1941)
Benito Mussolini was the central figure of
Italian Fascism and portrayed as such. The
personality cult of Mussolini was in many respects the unifying force of the Fascist regime by acting as a common denominator of various political groups and social classes in the
National Fascist Party and Italian society. A basic slogan in
Fascist Italy proclaimed that Mussolini was "always right" (). Endless publicity revolved about Mussolini with newspapers being instructed on exactly what to report about him. He was generally portrayed in a
macho manner, but he could also appear as a
Renaissance man or as a military, family, or even common man. Mussolini, as a practitioner of various sports such as
fencing,
auto racing,
skiing,
horse riding,
lion taming, and
swimming, was promoted to create an image of a valiant and fearless hero. Mussolini's prestige as a hero
aviator in the manner of
Charles Lindbergh was especially important, as for Italian Fascism the
aeroplane embodied qualities such as dynamism, energy, and courage. Mussolini's youthfulness (when he took office, he became the youngest prime minister in
Italian history), and his virile and energetic appearance were promoted. In
Fascist symbolism, youth constituted a metaphor for action and vitality, which emphasizsed the nature of Italian fascism as a revolutionary ideology in contrast to the stasis of
liberal democracy. Legends of Mussolini defying death during the
First World War and surviving assassination attempts were circulated to give the dictator a mythical and immortal aura. Mussolini's humble origin was described with explicit parallels with the
life of Christ. when writing about Mussolini's blacksmith
father and
mother, Fascist propaganda presented them symbolically as the
Holy Family ("They are but Mary and Joseph in relation to Christ"). His hometown of
Predappio was developed as a place of
mass tourism and symbolic
pilgrimage. Mussolini's
melodramatic style of
oratory was both pantomimic and liturgical, with exaggerated poses and hand movements, and prominent variations in the pitch and tone of his voice. Mussolini intended his speeches to be faith-inspiring theatrical performances and stated that "the crowd does not have to know; it must believe". Fascist newspapers implied even that Mussolini
had performed miracles, such as stopping the lava flow of
Mount Etna in
Sicily and invoking rain in the
drought-suffering
Italian-occupied Libya during his visit to the region in March 1937. A story of a
deaf-mute boy being cured after listening in a crowd to a speech of Mussolini was told in an elementary school manual. His overtly-belligerent image did not prevent Fascist newspapers from declaring he had done more for peace than anyone else, on the principle that Mussolini always did better than everyone else. Fascist propaganda proclaimed that he had improved the
Italian people morally, materially, and spiritually. Mussolini was "
Il Duce" and as such he had been proclaimed in song even before the seizure of power. In order to improve the image of Fascist Italy in
North Africa and the
Levant and to gain support from the
Arabs, Mussolini had himself declared the "Protector of
Islam" during an official visit to
Italian-occupied Libya in 1937. He also got the
Sword of Islam.
Action legend.
Italian Fascism was among the most visible of the contemporary political movements that had emerged
following World War I; it emphasised action and violence over talk and reason. Italian Fascism was used to justify taking up notions and dropping them again.
disarmament was seen as impossible. drawing upon older themes of suffering being necessary for greatness which had been promoted during
World War I. World War I was often cited in Fascist propaganda, with many prominent Italian Fascists displaying many medals from the conflict. Afterwards, there was a prolonged period during which the absence of military action did not prevent the government from many belligerent statements. The
Italian invasion of Albania in 1939 was presented as a splendid act of aggression. The
Italians were called to be like
Roman legionaries, and their opponents were depicted as weak and enthralled by money. The
United Kingdom was denounced in particular,
Futurism was a useful part of the cultural scene because of its militaristic elements. A Fascist doctrine was first set forth in
The Manifesto of the Fasci of Combat. Years later, a different set of ideas were enumerated in
The Doctrine of Fascism, which was purportedly written entirely by
Benito Mussolini although he wrote only the second part, and the first part was actually also written by
Giovanni Gentile. Fascism's internal contradictions, such as its changing official doctrines, were justified by Mussolini as a product of its nature: a doctrine of action and a revolt against the conformity and alienation of bourgeois society: National and social unity was symbolized by the
Fascist appropriation of the
ancient Roman fasces themselves, That drew on military themes from
World War I, during which Italians were called to pull together into a unity. Mussolini openly proclaimed that Fascists were willing to kill or die when it was a question of the
fatherland while the
March on Rome was being prepared. Similarly, he declared that
the State did not weaken the individual any more than a soldier was weakened by the rest of the regiment. That was part of an explicit rejection of
liberal individualism; the punitive aspect of the
fasces, containing an
axe, not being omitted. Furthermore, Fascism was meant to be a
totalitarian or total experience, since it was impossible to a Fascist only in politics, and it therefore overtly rejected
liberalism's private and public spheres. Fascism was not a party but a way of life. The
corporatist State was offered as a unifying form of politics, as opposed to
liberal democracy. Fascism and the state were identified, and everything was to be encompassed in the state.
Work was presented as a social duty of every citizen, because Italy was greater than any individual purpose. Beehives were presented as a model of industry and harmony. Furthermore, the unity would allow the entire nation to throw itself into support of military necessity. The sanctions imposed by the
League of Nations while
Fascist Italy invaded Ethiopia were used to unite the country against the "aggression".
Empire '' depicting the Italian victory in the
Second Italo-Ethiopian War Reviving the glories of the Roman Empire in modern Italy was a common theme. That called for the control of
Mare Nostrum (" Our Sea", as the
Mediterranean Sea was called in
ancient Rome). France, the United Kingdom, and other powers were denounced as having kept Italy immured. Concerted efforts were made to drum up enthusiasm for
colonialism in the 1930s. Besides its symbolic aspects, the
fasces had been carried by the
lictors of
ancient Rome as a representation of authority. April 21, the anniversary of the
founding of Rome, was proclaimed a Fascist holiday that was intended to replace the socialist
Labour Day as a celebration of the
Roman virtues of "work" and "
discipline". Rome's role in establishing
Christianity as a
universal religion was also exalted. In the city of Rome, archaeological and propagandist projects involving the clearing, isolation (often by deliberately destroying surrounding
medieval buildings) and restoration of key monuments such as the
Ara Pacis and the
Mausoleum of Augustus received strong support from the fascist regime. There, the symbolic connection between Caesarean leadership of Augustus and Mussolini's dictatorship was stressed. At the exhibition entrance was inscribed a quote from Mussolini: "Italians, you must ensure that the glories of the past are surpassed by the triumphs of the future". Rome thus constituted a point of reference in Fascism's dream of building an aggressive and forward-looking Italy of the future.
Spazio vitale , 1941.
Spazio vitale, living space, or vital space, was presented as needing conquest. It would strengthen the country by drawing off its surplus population and send landless peasants and the unemployed to work the earth, buy Italian goods and act as a garrison. Millions of Italians could live in Ethiopia, and exaggerated claims were made of its resources. That would amend the situation after World War I in which Fascists alleged that the Allies had cheated Italy of expansion into the former
Austro-Hungarian and
Ottoman Empires.
Fertility Even while arguing that the population had to be drained off, propaganda urged greater fertility and derided men who failed to produce children and women whose
Parisian fashions did not fit them for bearing children. Slogans urged
maternity as the female form of patriotism. Mussolini instructed the heads of fascist women's organisations to go home and tell the women that they needed many births. To help the "battle of births", assistance had to be given to mothers and newborns, and the founding of an organisation to do so was trumpeted.
Contraception was decried as producing medical problems. Mussolini also called for a more rural Italy to increase births. The "battles" to reclaim land and increase grain production, Mussolini trumpeted, had produced enough that Italy could hold 10 million more people.
Civilisation Fascist rhetoric portrayed the
attack on Ethiopia as advancing the cause of civilisation.
Economics A series of calculated lies was propagated to win support for the Ethiopian venture by claiming that Italy was self-sufficient in food, and enough oil had been stockpiled.
Bolshevism Socialism was resisted, particularly in its
internationalist forms. Socialist forces were denounced as a "Russian army".
Foreign culture The influx of foreign culture was attacked. "
Americanism" was the object of an organised propaganda campaign that attacked as a "grease stain which is spreading through the whole of European life". French and Russian novels and
H. G. Wells's
Outline of History were also attacked as contaminating youth.
British literature was used to show them as decadent as the French, their low birth rate was decried and it was proclaimed that Italy had saved Britain and France during World War I.
Italianization of street names and monuments in linguistically-Slavic and -German regions of Italy was mandated by legislation, and teachers instructing in languages other than Italian were persecuted (See
Katakombenschule). In 1926, new legislation was introduced decreeing the Italianization of
Slavic surnames.
Democracy Democracy and liberalism were pronounced moribund, with praise cited that Fascism received everywhere and claims that the workers of
North America wished they had a Mussolini. In 1934, Mussolini declared both democracy and liberalism dead.
Bourgeois culture and morality were seen as integral parts of liberalism and were thus attacked. The bourgeoisie supposedly valued
utilitarianism,
materialism, well-being and maintaining the
status quo instead of the fascist virtues of dynamism, courage, discipline and self-sacrifice. An anti-bourgeois exhibition was opened on 29 November 1937. The attack on Ethiopia was framed as Italy's vigour and idealism easily crushing the decadent, bloodless and cowardly democracies, especially as they supported barbarians over the "mother of civilizations".
Plutocracies The
United States was particularly resented for its wealth and position. The powers were also claimed to have prevented Italian imperialism. ==Media==